194302: Ruling on placing amulets containing words from the Qur’an or du‘aa’ around children’s necks

i was given this Proof of Wearing the tawiz
Hafiz Ibn Kathir and Qadi Shawkani write:
"Amr ibn Shuaib (may Allah be pleased with him) said that Rasulu'llah(may Allah bless him and grant him peace) taught my father and grandfather a du'a which we would read before going to sleep, to protect us from fear and anguish.We told our elder children to recite this du'a before going to sleep as well.But for those children who were not yet literate, we would write it and then put it around their necks"
[Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal vol.2; Abu Dawud, in 'Chapter of Medicine'; Tafsir Ibn Kathir, under Sura al-Mu'minun, verse 97; and Qadi Shawkani, Fath al-Qadir, under the same verse]. can you please explain this.

Published Date: 2014-07-12

Praise be to Allah.

Firstly:

The hadeeth referred to was narrated by Abu
Dawood (3893), at-Tirmidhi (3528), Ahmad in al-Musnad (6696) and
others via Muhammad ibn Ishaaq from ‘Amr ibn Shu‘ayb, from his father, from
his grandfather, that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah
be upon him) said: “If one of you wakes up in alarm, let him say: A‘oodhu bi
kalimaat-illaah il-taammaati min ghadabihi wa ‘iqaabihi wa sharri ‘ibaadihi
wa min hamazaat al-shayaateeni wa an yahduroon (I seek refuge in the perfect
words of Allah from His wrath and His punishment and from the evil of His
slaves and from the evil promptings of the devils and from their presence)’,
for then they will never be able to harm him.” ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr used to
teach these words to those of his children who reached puberty, and for
those who had not reached puberty he would write them down then hang it
around their necks.

There are some reservations about this
isnaad of this hadeeth, because it is one of the reports narrated by
Muhammad ibn Ishaaq, who is mudallis (i.e., he used vague words in order to
give a false impression) and he narrated by saying ‘an (“from”, instead of
“I heard” and so on).

At-Tirmidhi said: This is a hasan ghareeb
hadeeth.

Ash-Shawkaani said in Fath al-Qadeer
(3588): Its isnaad includes Muhammad ibn Ishaaq, concerning whom the
scholarly opinions are well known.

Based on that, what is narrated about
‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) hanging this supplication
around the necks of his children is not correct, because the isnaad of this
addition to the hadeeth is not saheeh.

Secondly:

With regard to the use of amulets and
ta’weez [also spelled ta’wiz, taveez, etc], if it contains words from the
Qur’an or du‘aa’ (supplication), then there is a difference of scholarly
opinion concerning that, as to whether it is disallowed or permitted.

Undoubtedly disallowing that is a means of
preventing objectionable beliefs, especially nowadays. If it was regarded as
makrooh (disliked) by most of the earlier generations, even though their
time was further removed from innovations, misguidance and polytheistic
beliefs, and was closer to the light of revelation and faith, then in times
such as our own, when ignorance and innovation are widespread, disallowing
it is more appropriate.

For more details on this topic, please see
the answer to question no. 10543